King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Tuesday, April 01, 2025
Chapters: Judges 6-7
Message: Judges: Gideon And His Army
Hello My Friend,
As we continue in the reading of Judges we learn that oppression comes to all who turn away from God but repentance brings miraculous events. Every believer wants to see the miracles of old today but may not realize that God wants them to be the miracle. And God does his greatest work through those who seem more feeble as long as they have faith in Him.
[1 Corinthians 12:22-25 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.]
Yesterday we learned that God had left several of Israel’s snares on the land when they refused to remove them all as Him commanded them to so that He might prove their faith in Him. Whenever they turned on Him He sent these snares to oppress them to bring them back to repentance in which He sent judges or leaders to free them and get them back on track. Today, we learn of the severe oppression they faced when they turned to the gods of the Midianites and he used them to judge them.
[Judges 6:1-2,4,6 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. 4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.]
Unlike the previous times when God sent judgment and they would just become under tribute to them this time they literally became tyrants. It was so bad that they were forced to live in caves, hide themselves, and were extremely poor. They even had to guard their crops twenty-four seven because as soon as they would start to grow they would destroy them. God did hear their cries and it was not the response they expected.
[Judges 6:7-10 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites, 8 That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; 9 And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; 10 And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.]
God must have had a change of heart because He found a man name Gideon and was going to use him to free them from the Midianites. As Gideon hid himself threshing wheat before they spotted him and destroyed it all an angel appeared to him.
[Judges 6:12-13 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.]
[Valor; Strength of mind in regard to danger; that quality which enables a man to encounter danger with firmness; personal bravery; courage; intrepidity; prowess.] I bet the first thing he was thinking was, “Why did he just call me that?” However, this was not a guardian angel or some random messenger sent from God this was Jesus Himself in His angel form and Gideon was no different than the rest of us who are facing all kinds of hardships and wondering why it appears as if God is not with us. It may seem like those who are faithful get caught up in the judgment of the unfaithful and in all reality we are but God does protect us. Jesus said it this way, [Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.]
We can think of this as the devil as he is the destroyer but it is not him that we need to fear, which in this case means to reverence and have respect for it is God Himself who we need to fear. While God sends no one to hell He does have the key and anyone who rejects Him casts themselves in there, [Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.]. Nevertheless He does give ample opportunities for one to come to Him, and this goes all the way back to the days of old. So Gideon wanted to know where all the miracles are the angel told him but I do not think it was what he had in mind.
[Judges 6:14-17 And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? 15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. 16 And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. 17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.]
Can you just see the look on Gideon’s face? And from his response I imagine it to be something like, “Seriously! Are you talking to me?” Sometimes in order to see a miracle, we need to become one. Of course, just like Moses, he tried to make excuses as to why he was not qualified to do what He called him to do. Are we not all like that? Well I suppose if we were all boastful and proud then He would not use us? Remember, God does not choose the qualified he qualifies the chosen, [John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.]
The incredible thing about God is that even though He proves us He allows us to prove Him also, so Gideon thought that if God really was going to use him to save Israel then He can prove it. Well, the angel allowed him to go ahead and prepare a gift for him in which he prepared some goat meat and bread.
[Judges 6:20-22 And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. 22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.]
Well, that certainly must have truly been a sight to see but why did the angel have Gideon do this? First of all, what Gideon had given him was an offering and only God takes offerings. Second, the rock would have been the proper place for an offering as it would withstand the fire. And third, Jesus Himself is not only the rock upon which we stand, He is the living water, the sacrifice, and the bread of life, [1 John 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.]
Once Gideon realized that he was in the presence of God that scared him to death, especially after he had just asked Him to prove to him that He meant what He said. Nevertheless, the angel reappeared and assured him that he was safe but this time He had something for him to do.
[Judges 6:23-26 And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. 24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 25 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: 26 And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.]
God not only wanted Gideon to tear down the altar and grove that even his own father was guilty of using to worship Baal, but use the wood to build another altar for Him. How is that for proving your faith? Gideon did wait until it was the middle of the night before he and ten of his friends did what God asked and as you can imagine the next morning when these fools came to worship Baal and found the altar gone that they were not too happy about it.
[Judges 6:29-32 And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing. 30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. 31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. 32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.]
What his father was saying was, “If this Baal were truly a living God then why was Gideon able to tear it down?” This is why Gideon was also given the name, Jerubbaal, which means, Let Baal plead and in other words, let Baal plead for himself. Joash, and the people knew that this settled the matter once and for all. Those who seriously believed in the idol were looking for some kind of hope that the would be free from their oppression, the idol being there gave some illusion of hope but in reality it was a false hope. The world still does this today, they seek hope in the idols of the world to help with their oppression, but in reality they know that it is worthless.
[Acts 17:24-27 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:]
That is so true, God is never far from any of us, and in case you have not noticed, much of the world is facing oppression right now. The sad truth is this, the Church has forgotten God in all this, they are the ones who have brought all of this into the Church and now that the people are seeing this, it is pouring out into the world. It is getting more wicked by the day, but that does not mean that God will not watch over and protect His faithful. Or as in Gideon’s case use them to deliver them from oppression. Now after all this, God, told Gideon to get an army together, to which thirty-two thousand men showed up.
[Judges 7:1-3 Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.]
Twenty-two thousand men were too scared to fight and left without judgment, leaving ten thousand. Think about it, would you want someone fighting for you who believes in you or really has no faith in you? The ones who believe in you will go the extra mile for you. This is what Jesus does for us, we are by far perfect but He is right there beside our Father rooting for us every step of the way, [Romans 8:33-34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.]
Another reason for God bringing the army down to a smaller amount meant that the people would not be praising the army when they defeat the Midianites but God Himself. It was not ideal but it was possible with ten thousand. However, God told Gideon that there were still too many.
[Judges 7:4-7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.]
This time there was going to be a test to prove who would be fit to fight simply by the way they took a drink of water. Think about it, dogs are standing up when they drink water and that actually enables them to be able to respond quicker when someone comes up to them. The men who lapped their water were standing, they brought the water to them with their hand and that enabled them to be able to respond if someone came up behind them. Well, there was only three hundred out of ten thousand that did not get down on their knees to drink water out of the lake or stream.
[Judges 7:6-8 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. 8 So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.]
God wants us to be on alert at all times, Jesus said it this way, [Matthew 24:42-44 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.]
We do not know when Jesus is going to return but we do know that He is returning and it is imperative that we be ready for the sound that trumpet that is going to sound. It is not really us who fight our battles, it is God, and He does it for us once we put our faith and trust in Him. And now, with only three hundred men God’s little army was going to defeat a multitude of Midianites. Knowing that Gideon as a little fearful God spoke to him.
[Judges 7:9-12 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. 10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.]
God knows that we are going have some fears and is okay with that because fear is often what drives us to Him, what He does not want is for that fear to engulf us to the point that we endanger ourselves, [Galatians 6:9-10 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.]
We all need a God fearing person like Phurah to be able to go to when we need some encouragement and they definitely needed that by the look of things. There were so many men on the other side of the battle that they gave up count. Nevertheless Gideon was no longer afraid and came up with a plan.
[Judges 7:16-18 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. 17 And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. 18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.]
The sword of the LORD, is the most powerful weapon that we possess, which is the Word of God, [Ephesians 6:14-17 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:]
that along with our faith in Him can lead us to great victories and that is exactly what happened.
[Judges 7:19-20 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.]
Gideon divided the men into three groups, each one had a trumpet, an empty pitcher, and a lantern in their hands. When Gideon gave the command, each of them were to blow their trumpet, break the pitcher, and shout, “The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon!” And I love this part every time I read it, the men were so scared that they started killing each other.
[Judges 7:21-23 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. 22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.]
All we really need to fight each battle that we face is the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and our faith. Let me tell you, we are going win some battles, and we are going to lose some battles, but even if we lose some we are still winners because we have Christ on our side, [1 Corinthians 3:13-15 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.]
Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [Judges 6:21 Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for sending Your Son to save all who believe in Him from death and hell. Time and time again You have proved Yourself mighty in my life, yet there are times when I have failed in giving You the glory for it. I am sorry that I do not thank You enough for all the times that You have delivered me from my oppression when I let my guard down. I am also blessed that You have used me to be a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Lord, Lead me and guide me, as one of Your called, keep my eyes open and prepared for an attack at all times, let me be a living sacrifice, always willing to do what You ask, leading all You send my way to Your Son. I ask these things in Your name Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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